I know I say this every time, but Best. Episode. Ever. Why so awesome, Show? Is it ’cause you’re made with love and garnished with hotties? Or because you’re filled with nutritious hearty goodness? Whatever it is, it rocks my world, and I’d like to order another helping, please.

EPISODE 8: “A Universal Song”

Eun-bi and Jae-ho sit down for a cup of coffee, and he asks why she didn’t call when her father passed away. She reminds him that they’re over, and he says that they’re over romantically, but not over as people. If you weren’t such a cheating bastard, that sentiment would be nice.

To her horror, she sees the nametag hanging on his neck. It indicates that he is now an employee at Cha Sung, which is two times the proximity – right across the street, and of course its connection to Chi-soo. He says he’s just an intern, but she’s clearly a little jealous at how well he’s doing, even at intern status.

He asks if she’s really living with her boyfriend, and she evades an answer by saying it’s not really his business anymore.

The four live-in members of the ramyun shop sit around the tv that night, like a cozy little family. Kang-hyuk directs what they’ll watch like the dad (also choosing who they’ll vote for since they’re watching one of those Korea Wants to Be a K-Pop Star Miracle Audition shows), and Hyun-woo… cuts the fruit? OH MY GOD. Is a boy cutting the fruit in this house? I knew I loved this drama. I officially want to be Eun-bi when I grow up.

Ba-wool is still reeling from the news that Eun-bi and Chi-soo have something fishy going on, and he demands to know why, WHY, of all people, it has to be Cha Chi-soo, and most of all, why she took him back at the shop. “Or did something… actually happen between you two?”

Eun-bi stares at him, horrified, and Kang-hyuk pretends not to be paying attention, but waits for her response. She stammers, “That… that…” And then on the tv: “…we’ll find out in sixty seconds.” The boys all groan in frustration. Ha.

Ba-wool asks if it’s because of that ex-boyfriend of hers, and wanting to look good in front of him, and she smacks him upside the head, insisting that that would be ridiculous for someone her age. Yes, sooooo immature. You would never.

She tells Dong-joo about the events of the day and gets a good talking-to, with the very important question: why do you still care what this guy thinks? Are you still in love with him? Eun-bi swears up and down that she’s not, and Dong-joo just tells her not to do anything else that’s pathetic, like secretly reading his blog…

…Which is course exactly what she does next. The title on his homepage: “I’m still…” She wonders what it could mean, not noticing that Kang-hyuk has snuck up behind her. She jumps up to hide the monitor, asking why he doesn’t knock when entering other people’s rooms.

Kang-hyuk: “If it’s someone else’s room, what’s the fun of knocking? Isn’t that what you’re doing – stealing a peek?” Touché. He sighs, “My wife’s ex-boyfriend… to what point should I be forgiving?”

She turns back to the blog, and recognizes the song that’s playing. It’s Broccoli You Too’s A Universal Song. It flashes her back to the old days, when the song was playing in a café, and she had asked Jae-ho what she meant to him. He answered, “You’re ramyun. You’re always around when I want to see you, and you’re universal. Just like this song.”

It’s certainly not the most romantic declaration ever, but young Eun-bi was convinced when he took her hands and added that it means that he always sees her. I love that this can be interpreted two ways: either she’s always around, always available, and in front of his eyes, or that she’s swimming around in this thoughts and appearing even when he tries not to think of her (which is the ailment Chi-soo suffers from). My guess is that Jae-ho is the former, but she took it to mean the latter.

The next morning Chi-soo wakes up in good spirits, and Dad asks if he’s going to work at the ramyun shop again today (because work is optional for these people, natch). Chi-soo grins and declares that the shop is helpless without him, so he needs to go.

Daddy grins from ear to ear after his conversation with Chi-soo, beaming to his secretary that Chi-soo called him “Dad” twice. “I’ve got that other guy beat now. You know… with the pointy face and big round glasses.” The secretary declares that he is indeed the winner in the Daddy vs. Pororo race for affection.

Chi-soo goes shopping for a new bag with So-yi in tow, and she laughs at how hard he’s working to keep up the Dating Intern Façade. He asks if she’s concerned, secretly wanting her to get a little jealous, not because he cares about So-yi, but because it would mean Eun-bi was good enough to be considered competition. Yeah, it’s warped, but it’s Chi-soo.

She scoffs at the absurdity, and he asks if Intern is really that bad, in a girl’s eyes. So-yi says that she’s not bad, it’s just she’s the type you get sick of. The wording brings Chi-soo back to Eun-bi’s outburst at him the first night at the ramyun shop, when she said those exact words to him: “I’m sick of you.”

Eun-bi gets a call from “Dog Chi-soo” and reluctantly answers, remembering the terms of their contract. He whines that she took too long to answer, and then stops to gape when he sees a sexy pair of legs just up ahead of him.

He follows the legs all the way up… to reveal Eun-bi in her volleyball uniform, turning back to wink at him. Hahaha. He screams into his phone: “I have to see you RIGHT NOW!”

He shows up in front of the shop and waves at her to hurry up, and she groans at him in annoyance… and then suddenly dashes to his side, yelling, “Jagi-yaaaaaaaa~!” She whispers to him that they’re in Eebbeunie Mode, and they turn around to face Jae-ho, standing right behind him.

They sit down inside the ramyun shop, and Jae-ho stammers, “He’s younger? And in high school?” Crap. He asks if things were really tough for Eun-bi. She’s stuck now, because he’s clearly sitting there in his high school uniform, so she just goes with it. Jae-ho doesn’t understand, and Chi-soo counters that age doesn’t matter between a man and a woman, and wonders how he got hired at Cha Sung with such a narrow-minded point of view. Heh.

Jae-ho asks how it happened that she’s dating a high schooler, and how they met. Chi-soo tells him that they met in a women’s bathroom. She cringes. He swoons as he tells the tale of how Eun-bi wrapped toilet paper with her name on it around his neck and seduced him.

Jae-ho asks how long they’ve been dating. Chi-soo says they just celebrated their two-two (22nd day together) at the club, where Eun-bi wore her volleyball uniform and danced for him. Ha. I love how all these stories are just a slight twist of reality for Chi-soo.

Eun-bi chases him into the house, asking why he’s turned her into a cougar, and he breezes that he was just telling the truth, and if she doesn’t like it she can end their contract. She has nothing to say to that, and asks why he’s coming into her home.

He reminds her of their terms – that he gets to see her anytime, anywhere, as much as he wants. I love that this idea of the Universal Eun-bi is so different to Jae-ho and Chi-soo. She was completely available for Jae-ho and that was convenient and enough. But for Chi-soo, she’s never around enough to satisfy him. It’s adorable… and hot.

Of course he doesn’t know it, since he gets a good look (he drinks it in, like his daily dose of Eun-bi) and declares that he really has to see her in person… in order to get his head on straight. The funny thing is, he means it like seeing her is the antidote to his feeling feelings (like seeing her face reminds him of how ridiculous it is to like her), but doesn’t fully grasp that it’s not working the way he wants it to.

Chi-soo walks away, self-satisfied, and Kang-hyuk makes his entrance… skip-hopping with his hands behind his back. He then proceeds to old-school dance at her while saying that he’s dying of jealousy because she danced with “Jung Chi-soo.” I… can’t even begin to describe how strange and hilarious this guy is.

Ba-wool sits in the dance studio watching So-yi practice, but hardly even noticing that she’s there. She asks what’s got him so distracted, and he stews over Chi-soo “playing around” with his noona. Gah, I love this kid.

He asks how she can be so fine about it, when Chi-soo is “dating” someone else. She knows it’s pretend and doesn’t care, and besides, the thing she likes about Chi-soo is that he goes where the wind takes him.

Ba-wool can’t believe her, and asks how she’d feel if he dated someone else then. She thinks about it and doesn’t think he’d do that, which infuriates him. He asks why it’s okay for Chi-soo and not for him. She thinks about it and says that if Chi-soo is her left arm, then Ba-wool is her right arm. Er, what now?

She nicknames them Right Ba-wool and Left Chi-soo. She puts her arms around his neck and he melts, and she goes back to practice with this little nugget: “I’m right-handed.” Ba-wool leaves in a foul mood, but finds solace in being the right hand rather than the left. Oh, chicken.

Dong-joo and the coach ask Eun-bi if she’s ever gone to a club wearing her volleyball uniform, and Eun-bi squirms. They confirm that the rumor has already spread all over school. I am mortified for her.

Dong-joo chastises her for sneaking a peek at her ex’s blog, and for having such a hard time getting over her first love. Eun-bi gets a text from Chi-soo and runs off, and Coach tells Dong-joo that first loves can be hard to forget, so she shouldn’t be too hard on her.

Dong-joo counters, waving her hand between the two of them, “Getting over first love is this easy!” *Gasp* Was the coach her first love when she was in high school? So cute! He’s too dense to know what she means though, and they move on to another round of drinks.

Chi-soo waits up on the roof for Eun-bi, all moony-eyed at the moon. It’s because he sees her in it, of course, this time as the rabbit in the moon, wearing bunny ears and churning rice cakes.

Eun-bi grumbles on her way up to the store, and finds Jae-ho waiting there for her instead. He grabs her in a hug, saying that he doesn’t want to see her get messed up any further, and that he knows she’s dating that high schooler because of him.

He asks her to start over with him, and she pushes him away, reminding him that he’s the one who said he was sick and tired of her always looking at one place, at him. He hangs his head, “I know. And I regret it. Every day.”

He hands her a gift bag, and she looks up at him. The camera pans up to show Chi-soo, hanging on their every word.

She heads inside and opens up the bag to find a scrapbook of her happier times with Jae-ho. Inside is an… engagement ring? Not sure, but it looks like it has a rock in it. She finds another jewelry box inside, this one with a tiny mp3 player. She listens, and it’s “A Universal Song.”

It flashes her back to the day he professed his feelings, on his way in to the army. He asked her come visit alone instead of with all their friends, and when she asked why, he kissed her.

She sits in her room, listening to the song, when suddenly someone appears behind her and yanks her headphones out. She whirls around to find Chi-soo, throwing another tantrum. He throws the mp3 player on the ground, calling it poop.

She rushes to pick it up. He demands to know why she didn’t answer his calls, and if she’s swayed because her ex hugged her once.

To his horror, she confirms it without hesitating – yes, she’s swayed. He shouts at her, asking how she could have feelings again after what she endured. “Are you really able to listen to this stupid song?”

Eun-bi: Because this isn’t a song. It’s not just a song. It’s when I was twenty… twenty-one… twenty-two… It’s six years together of him, and me. I thought I forgot too. But when I hear this song, that time, that air, comes back, so what can I do? Even as I’m walking down the street, it stops me, so what can I do? This song is already no longer a song, so what can I do about that?

She says this with tears brimming, and Chi-soo holds back his own angry tears, warning her not to dare cry. He throws the player back down on the ground, shouting, “If you’ve taken a dump, you have to FLUSH!” I know the words sound comical, but the moment is entirely serious. It’s an extension of their poop metaphor that’s actually rather poignant, yunno, minus the toilet connotations.

He storms out, and Kang-hyuk stirs, awake for once and having heard their argument. Eun-bi goes downstairs to the shop, and finds Kang-hyuk already there and cooking something up for her. Aw.

She immediately turns back when she sees him, but he calls out, “You’re still pretty when you’re bloated,” which is so cute because she’s Eun-bi Ramyun, and she’s actually bloated from crying.

He gives her a bottle of soju and a dish that he made because he heard her arguing with “Hwa Chi-soo” [Angry Chi-soo]. Heh. He turns on the radio and they both freeze when they hear the song. Eun-bi: “My dad…” Kang-hyuk: “That’s my mom’s song…” They look at each other.

Chi-soo drives home, angsting over Eun-bi’s words. He walks past Dad in the hot tub, and then stops when he hears that same song coming out of Dad’s radio. “That song…” Dad asks if he remembers it, “This song is your mom.”

Aw, that look of heartbreak on his face. I love that his is how he learns what Eun-bi means.

Back at the ramyun shop, Eun-bi downs a shot and complains that she was born in the wrong generation, totally unable to keep up with this “cool dating” Chi-soo’s always talking about. Kang-hyuk sighs that she sure does seem to care a lot about what Chi-soo says, and she balks that it’s because he keeps running around calling her Poop.

He sighs to confirm it – that her temper flares at everything Chi-soo. “It makes me jealous.” Aw. He takes a shot and then leans in close, “Wife, poop can be someone’s heart too. Like Wife’s pretty heart.”

In a nice contemplative moment, Chi-soo holds Eun-bi’s nametag, Eun-bi holds the broken mp3 player and sheds a tear, and Kang-hyuk runs his fingers over “Eun-bi Ramyun” etched into the table. The lights go off, and the Flower Boy Ramyun Shop closes for the night.

Chi-soo sits in the coffee shop the next day, and Hyun-woo asks why he didn’t go to school. Chi-soo says he feels off somehow, and uses the word for “dirty,” like when you can’t quite get clean enough.

Hyun-woo takes it literally and asks if he got something on his clothes, and Chi-soo says no, but he got something on something else, he thinks. I love all the ways that Chi-soo expresses his love without knowing it – this time like something stained his heart and he can’t quite clean it off. Could it be… poop?

He hears his mom’s song again on the radio and asks Hyun-woo what the name of it is. Hyun-woo gapes, since it’s the first time Chi-soo’s shown any interest in a song… with lyrics. Heh.

Eun-bi hears the song again too while she’s out buying groceries. It makes her wander into the record store to look for it, and finds Jae-ho there, looking for her. He puts on their song and places the headphones over her ears.

Her memories of that first kiss come flooding back. She looks up at him, “Jae-ho-ya,” and puts out her hand. He extends his, and she puts the ring in his hand. “I can’t bring myself to accept this. There’s something shiny embedded in it. But the album, and… this song, I’ll take those. Because poop is… my precious memories.” Heh, and aw. Isn’t it great how this show could do an entire series of comic strips called “Poop is…”?

But their poignant moment is harshly interrupted by… another woman? Oh, no. Pffft. THIS guy. Scared, Jae-ho calls her noona, and she wonders if he’s cheating on her with this little girl. He declares that this is the girl he’s going to marry, since they broke up… a week ago. LOL.

The noona flips out, insulting her for having zero style, and grabs Eun-bi to drag her out for a brawl. But then Chi-soo shows up to grab the arm that’s grabbing HIS noona’s arm. God, I love this. It’s so ridiculous. Jae-ho’s noona asks who the hell this guy is, and Chi-soo declares that he’s “My noona’s Pororo.” HAHAHAHAHA. I’m… dying…

Having overheard Jae-ho make a remark about Eun-bi being able to wear whatever she wants (in the way of, she could wear shorty shorts and it wouldn’t matter because she’d look plain), he punches Jae-ho in the face, and then shouts, “What? Did you really date this woman? When that woman wears hotpants and flies around in the air, it spins a person’s eyes around! What? The woman you’re going to marry? Are you kidding? Do you know how dangerous and hot* that woman is?!”

What he doesn’t realize is that Eun-bi has disappeared during his outburst, and he runs off to find her. Jae-ho’s noona in turn goes googly-eyed over Chi-soo, asking if Jae-ho has his number. HA.

He runs into the women’s bathroom to find her, breaking open the stall door to drag her out of there. He yells at her to stop running away, asking what happened to the Eun-bi who launched a spike at his head.

He tells her to do the same to that bastard. “Clean up your crap!” She asks if she should throw CDs this time, and do that all over again? Does she have no pride? Isn’t she a woman too? Trembling through her tears, she admits, “I was happy. Because he saw me as a woman again… truthfully I was disgustingly happy. But this time I’m not a woman either. I’m cold rice [a metaphor for leftovers, second best]. Not pasta, but ramyun!”

Chi-soo pushes her against the wall in frustration. “Don’t cry. I TOLD you NOT. TO. CRY. Don’t you ever cry in front of me because of another man AGAIN!”

*THUNK* Oh my god, did he just say that?

She’s shaken by his words, and so is he. He holds her face in his hands, the both of them trembling. He starts to lean closer. Hearts beat in their throats.

He inches closer, their lips a millimeter apart…

And then BAM! Out of nowhere, Kang-hyuk punches Chi-soo away. “I know how hot* this woman is, but that doesn’t mean she’s a woman you can do this to, in a bathroom.”

Goddamn, how can they be so hot, just one right after the other like that? A girl needs a minute.

He tells Eun-bi they’re going, and drags her out, leaving Chi-soo with a bloody lip and fire in his eyes.

COMMENTS

*A note – they use the word “hot” in this episode, and though it can mean what we mean, it’s also one of those mistranslated words, like “cool.” Hot is used more often in colloquial language to mean “in demand,” like a hot-ticket item. So it’s not that Chi-soo doesn’t mean that she’s hot in the sexy way (’cause clearly, he’s got it bad in that sense), but he means more like she’s a hot commodity, and wanted by many.

What an awesome way to wrap up the ex-boyfriend storyline in two episodes flat – he appears, he proposes, he sways her… and then turns out to be the same old dirtbag. But what’s important is the thing that the ex represents for her, and when she speaks of the song and what it reminds her of, she speaks more about herself than of Jae-ho. It’s about who she was when she loved him, not the object of her love, but the person she once was, when she felt that way.

Her having to tell Chi-soo about song associations is just another example of how he has yet to actually connect with anyone on a level deep enough to make memories. But it’s when he hears his mom’s song that we see a glimpse – that maybe Cha Chi-soo the human being is there, just buried deep.

The song metaphor works in a number of ways in this episode, to highlight how a song can be exclusive and meaningful to two people who share a romantic past, or universal in how it reminds many people of loved ones, and connects them to one another. Each of the characters’ memories of Mom/Dad/Mom with that one song highlights their sameness, that the kind of loneliness they feel is exactly alike.

What really kills me is the way Chi-soo’s insistence that he hates to see girls cry gets turned upside-down. What used to be the thing he shouted in annoyance, “Don’t you dare cry!” because he didn’t want to see or deal with someone else’s emotions (god forbid), becomes something else entirely. Now he says the same words, but he means that he doesn’t ever want to see Eun-bi cry, because she’s hurt, because he can’t stand it, and because she’s shedding tears over another man.

I love when something like this is layered in from the beginning, and how constantly this drama turns a phrase to go from one meaning to its direct opposite. Everything, from poop to pororo, becomes a metaphor-laden remark used for a joke, a character moment, and then a twist. It feels very Hong-Sisters-esque, and that’s really the best compliment I could give to a rom-com.

I want to point out, EB was restless after receiving those memorbilias from JH so she went out and brought back soju, while KH must have seen her go out the same way CS left their house, so then waiting her return KH prepared food for EB to accompany her binge drinking.

That was hilarious. I was like is this a commercial? I’ll try to remember the recipe so I can have delicious ramyun while watching delicious Flower Boys. Along with that clip and the clip of Kang Hyuk dancing old school moves, I also had to reply Chi Soo licking his lips :>. If he’s alluding to what I think he is in that scene, isn’t that illegal 😉 ?

Hello there! I recently watched this drama on Netflix and the song Universal Love isn’t used for the song that I heard D: The song I heard is sang by a girl with like a super high pitch voice… I’m trying to find that song so please reply if you know the name of it! Thank you!

I would be SO on board that ship if it weren’t for how laaaaazy he can be. I’m not sure I could get into a guy that can fall asleep standing up lol and every little exertion makes him wanna curl up on the floor and take a nap. But I love him otherwise!

I’m glad that Kang Hyuk expressed his jealousy nonski! Great starting to officially start START shipping. Especially because he punched “Hwa” ChiSoo lol
Seriously though, at this point, I just want our Panda to be happy. I’m still rowing but I feel like I’m only going in circles around the island at this point.

Actually, I dislike what Kang-hyuk did at the end. If Eun-bi didn’t want to kiss him, she could have easily defended herself. He just didn’t want her to kiss him out of selfish reasons, which is understandable, but he actually has no right to that. I’m just saying that because everyone kept saying he’s so mature and stuff.

I never really saw him as the “mature” character. Maybe I’m used to seeing this trope in a lot of manhwa/Japanese drama but he seemed to be the type that hides under his happy-go-lucky mask.

I think, and I think Ani and Nonski will agree, that it wasnt as much the punch that delighted us but it was his showing of emotions.

Going around happily calling her “wifey” and doing things for her in secret are sweet, for sure. But that punch, however immature, however Chi-Soo didnt deserve (because, you’re right, Eunbi and Chi-Soo DID look like they were going for the kiss), showed us that Kang-Hyuk took it to another level.

It wasnt just about him ~saying~ that he was jealous, or saying that he likes EunBi, he actually took action. 😀

But I agree Selli. I was like “wtf random! Where did you come from, Panda?” when that happened. I actually would’ve liked to see a kiss too… I mean, I ship Pot/Panda but I ~like~ Chi-Soo. haha

I have cash dolla bills for anyone who can tell me Girlfriday’s real name. The whole stalking thing doesn’t work when you don’t actually know anything about your prey. Sarah is so lovely and fitting for our dear JB. I’m sure GF’s real name is also super purty.

dude…. i’ve been satisfied with reading your caps for this drama. But, I finally sat down and watched this episode. This series is HI-LA-RI to the OUS!!! Damn I wish this were primetime on a main network, but on the other hand I’m glad it’s not because they’re showing that they can kick butt on cable! Such great witty writing!!! I need to study! Aghhh!

The wind just picked up the sails on the chi soo ship. watching him try not to cry, not once, but twice……be still, my heart. Are you still accepting memberships into the IYMC club? Please send me an application. (Seriously, I never imagined myself becoming all fangirly at my age….glad I’m not alone)

Thanks for the excellent recaps. It helps so much to see the layers the writer is building. It’s pretty brilliant. The next episode looks like it will be really fun.

This is one the best written shows after Greatest love and coffee prince. i lvoe the pace at which they tell the story and how the characters are all inter woven between them. And also, the chemistry between the leads. love love love the show.

does anyone know how much the age difference is between eun-bi and chi-soo? i’m really squealing with glee for this two but i don’t if i’d be turned off with the age gap. why does chi-soo have to be a high school student?! :))

I know. It’s a little bit disturbing; even if the age difference isn’t that big, the mentality or growth stage is different. The threshold has a lot to do with it – I mean 19 is so different from 26 like 13 and 18. If they were in their 20s or 30s it wouldn’t be such a big deal, since we would considered them old enough to make their own decisions. It also has a lot to do with gender. Most people are more comfortable if a guy is 6 years older than a girl.

Does it matter if it’s the guy or girl who’s younger? I mean, personally I like guys to be my age or older than me for me to date them but that’s just because when I see younger guys all I think about is how they remind me of my younger brother. That said, a relationship between a 19 and 25 year old is no different from a relationship between a 25 and a 31 year old in the sense that if the 25 and 31 year old couple met 6 years earlier they would have also been 19 and 25. One couple has been around longer, but that doesn’t make them any more mature than the younger couple. And just because a person is young in years does not mean they are mentally young. Some people lived a lifetime by the time they turn 19.

I don’t understand why people can’t accept a woman being with a younger man. What? Men can rob the cradle and women can’t? Have we learned nothing from the awesome that is Baek Ji-young?

P.S. I’m actually laughing that I used robbing the cradle instead of some other known saying.

This reminds me of WGM, and when the Ssangchu couple used to be all the rage. In the beginning, they did get a lot of hate for the age range though… And “Dal Ja’s Spring” couple got hate as well… Let’s not even start about What’s Up Fox, etc etc

What I like about this drama though, as opposed to the other mainstream dramas (other than 9ends 2outs), is that the age range FITS with the character.
I mean, Chi-Soo acts like a 19 year old would. He’s not made up to act older than his age, just for the sake of the relationship.
Similarly, EunBi acts like a immature 25 year old. She has her moments but she’s also very lost… much like any 25 year old that hasnt found their place in the world…

Most important of all is that we’re going to see them grow and mature over the course of the drama – or at least that’s what we’re expecting.

It’s so funny you mentioned What’s Up Fox because that was the drama that came to mind most for me.Their age didn’t bother me so much as the fact that Ko Byung Hee raised Chul-su but they ended being a couple. But that’s love for you I guess.

I think any show that shows a younger man and an older woman as an item, or an older man dating a woman waaaaaaaaaay younger than him will get flak no matter what. People need to realize it happens all the time in real life and that all they need to worry about is that there’s chemistry and respect/understanding between the couple on our kdramas.

me prefers men older and have some bias when it comes to younger men, i guess it comes with the fact that i have a younger brother. but ever since i had been watching k-dramas, i sort of relaxed from that train of thought tho. and What’s UP Fox as my one of my fave drama is saying something. my shipping Kang Hyuk might also be one indication of that.

@nonski: I hear ya. Raising my little brother and my younger sisters has made a freaking mom out of me. It makes it hard for me personally to date a younger person. All I end up doing is wondering why this brat is acting so chummy with me.

I can understand where Abie (comment 38.2.2.2) is coming from about Chisoo being a High School student and Eun-bi being in a different state of her life. If we apply real world rules and there’s hanky panky going on, we’re looking at statutory rape, and the age of consent in Korea is tricksy at best, but let’s say it’s 20 (Korean age) in this case, leaving him 1 year to go. But whatever the case, if Chisoo wants in he’s going to have to man up and real soon. And all that counts for me is that he and Eun-bi come to a point where they’re on the same page mentally and emotionally, age be damned.

P.S. I’m still shipping with Panda Boy.

38.2.2.1.4 LeonaNovember 23rd, 2011 at 12:23 AM

nonski… my husband is 4 years younger than me
frankly he is the mature one and I’m the child and I’m the one who couldn’t survive without him and not the other way around

first time I met him he was in 12th grade(high school) and I was a 3rd year math student. At that time I was an intern teaching math at a school near University and he was learning in another city.
After a few months he was 1st year student and I was in the 4th year. That year I taught computer science as an intern to another school.

However I cringed a lot in the second episode. Now I’m teaching 12 graders and I can’t image myself doing that to my own pupil… only if the hell freezes over. Maybe because I’m 30+ I had those shudders or just because I can see another face of the system and the usual behavior of a 12 grader

38.2.2.1.5 MarinaNovember 23rd, 2011 at 9:45 AM

I don’t see why it is acceptable for middle-age man to date/marry a young woman, but when a woman dates/marries a man younger than her, the reaction is different.

I have a work friend whose husband is about 5 or 6 years younger than her. She’s the silly, immature one and he’s the mature one in that relationship. She met him after around the time he had graduated from college. She says that he used to ask her out all the time and she kept turning him down because of the age difference, she was looking for a serious relationship and assumed things about what he wanted. Until one day she decided to give him a chance.

i don’t really mind the gap in terms of the number of years. but the fact that chi-soo is still a high school student makes it kind of off for me. there’s a big difference in their stages of life. one is working and experiencing the real world while the other is still a student. had they been both working or if at least chi-soo’s in college, it wouldn’t really bother me that much.

however, what i love about this show is that the gap is a little downplayed that it doesn’t become the main conflict. either that, or the chemistry between our couple is just too intense that I couldn’t care less about the gap. 😛

I replied above (comment 38.2.2.1.3), but my friend wanted me to at least admit that dating someone underage (rather boy or girl) is still a bad idea…. But I still want to interject and say that dating and waiting is one thing.

39 MJNovember 22nd, 2011 at 7:12 PM

Thank you for the recap!
AGREED! Show, why so good?! To me it is a sign of how good the acting is that I can watch the Raw ep 8 and still have a good idea of what is going on.
ARGH! The ending! Another almost kiss. Another week of waiting. But, if the preview is any indication, it looks like KH may be complacent no longer.

The show has not disappointed in any of its episodes yet – I thought it’ll just be great eye candy and some laughs but it has also delivered an unexpected storyline, character development and layered meaning. It’s a delight. Yeah for cable!

In yesterday’s episode and most of today’s, I was a little disappointed in Kang-hyuk for not doing enough to help Eun-bi or even make his move on her when she was having to deal with Chi-soo. But the ending finally makes up for Kang-hyuk’s lack of interception. I can’t wait until we start to see the main triangle fight it out. I’m happy the ex wasn’t too much of an interference in the show bc Eun-bi seriously just needs to move on. I totally feel for her when she has to deal with the time after such a long relationship and this issue teaches Chi-soo about the difference bt casual dating and romance (even though the ex was a poor example of a good bf), but Eun-bi just needs to move on to finer things…like Kang-hyuk! lol And although I’ll be happy for Chi-soo and Eun-bi in the end, why does Kang-hyuk have to be so darn cute and hot all at the same time?! I wouldn’t mind having to deal with a guy lying down in random places to sleep bc he’ll cook me amazing food, has a killer smile, knows how to take care of a girl, and is a nice big teddy bear that I can cuddle. hahaha
And even though I hate So-yi for being so casual with both Chi-soo and Ba-wool, I don’t completely hate her bc I know she’s got special feelings for Ba-wool (she’d better!!). I feel bad for Ba-wool bc he feels like 2nd best at most times, but I find the couple to be really cute together. And I can’t wait until Dong-joo and Coach start their own romance. They’re already wearing couple clothes with their athletic wear. lol I dunno if I can wait another week for the next episode. This is the kind of show where I wouldn’t mind if they made each episode 2 hours long. I can’t wait to see more of Chi-soo’s crazy hallucinations and his confused emotions!

Thank you for the awesome recap!!!! Absolutely loved the episode! Even though, there’s a part of me wanting to give up oh KH and EB couple, I’m still hoping a miracle to happen of KH and EB hooking up but the chance of happening is… wonk…wonk…woooonk… ): But I’d still would love to see a small part of the drama of them dating<3 (: KH is so dork-able and cute!!

hey!!! you never know…… everyone thought jin guk in dream high was gonna get the girl then sam dong swooped in and won her over! Im sorry but a highschooler…. really…over the hotness that is kh….this girl would have to be bat**** crazy to pass up on this hottie that can cook….now if only he would stay awake long enough…I also thought he had autism? I couldve sworn when they were talking about EB’s dad that HK talked about a kid and I assumed that kid was him… not sure though:)

I’m not so sure…seems the majority here ship CS-EB…I’m so sad I don’t get to share my love enough for KH-EB. A part of me is just glad he’s steeping up effort to gain her affection…but when I think about how he’s gonna lose her to CS in the end, I am already feeling the hurt for him right now….

it really has to be a huge miracle for him to win the girl
!

44 JAMBO42November 22nd, 2011 at 7:21 PM

Thank you so much for the recap! I’ve been literally counting the hours, even keeping tabs on Korea (Seoul) time. Reading this recap, I am cracking up and empathizing with the characters even before I’ve seen the actual show. And I’ve tried to search the Internet for other recaps while waiting for this one to post, I can honestly say, no one does it like JV and GF in Dramabeans. Your razor sharp description and humor does amazing justice to the dramas, showcasing them in their best light.

That being said…I’m stunned at how this show keeps getting better and better! OMO!

When Air’s “Sexy Boy” played in the background as Chi Soo licked his lips and intoned “hardcore!” I hit the floor and haven’t recovered since. And how awesome was the chemistry in that interrupted kiss scene? I hope we’re not dissapointed when lips finally meet for real!

ahhhh, i agree with you. I love KH who always take cares of EB unconditionally ( sometimes secretly ).
i just wonder, did KH actually know EB yet since their childhood ?. because in first/earlier episode, KH ever asked to EB’ father “is she STILL in sexy temper as always ?”. so, he ever knows her before ?. CMIMW :p

I love how Chi-soo is so sincere about Eun-bi, even if she doesn’t know it. I loved how this episode was really focused on Chi-soo and Eun-bi’s relationship but i’m also happy that Kang-hyuk is finally showing some testosterone and claiming his woman!